Maresca leaves Chelsea, Arsenal vanquish Villa + Man United head to Leeds

0:00The Athletic FC

0:31Totally Football Show. All that plus AFCON update and more in this Totally Football Show.

0:44January 2nd, 2026. New Year, same top Totally line up. Today with our commitment to quality, we bring you Daniel Storey. Happy New Year, Daniel. And to you, James. Happy New Year, Adrian Clarke. thank you James yeah have a great have a great one well thank you so much stick around for a podcast why don't you Adrian as well and happy new year but same old bench the United Carl Anker hi James happy new year happy new year to you later on we'll be hearing from Mahir Mazahi as the Africa Cup of Nations heads into the knockout round and also rather more immediately Simon Johnson on Chelsea after that New Year's Day shock Chelsea have parted company with Enzo So Maresca, woof.

1:33Quite the January 1st news that, eh? Yeah, I mean, kind of Chelsea gone and Chelsea, right? Just as you think that everything looks good in an October, wait two months and then look again in the pot and see what's going on because, yeah, it seems like a complete breakdown of relationship, of working conditions according to Maresca, of managerial aptitude maybe according to Chelsea. and yeah, I mean a team that is perennially, it now seems, a club that seems perennially two years away from peaking and nobody really knows how they get there. And yeah, only last summer they were Club World Cup winners, which is kind of a big peak, but anyway.

2:17Adrian, your festive fixture period included no less than three viewings of Wrexham. It did, yeah. Why? I went to the racecourse ground a couple of times when I went tripped up to Blackburn on New Year's morning to watch them in the early kickoff win for the third game in a row. So I brought them incredible luck. And they were really good, really entertaining. And my big takeaway is that after back-to-back-to-back promotions, don't write off another one. I'm not saying that they will, but they aren't a bad side and they've got playoff potential. So, yeah, watch this space. The story goes on. Indeed it does.

3:03Carl, what did you do over Christmas? I was at Manchester United at Old Trafford on Boxing Day. I had Old Trafford again on the 30th. Oh, I did. Yeah, yeah. Sprinkled in a little bit of AFCON coverage as well. Oh, nice. Very much plugged into the footballing machine. Although the AFCON game that I chose to cover was Angola versus Egypt. So, not a thriller. but we keep going Alright, certainly will Round 19 of the Premier League season concluded on Thursday night with four matches all of them draws, Man City held 0-0 at Sunderland, Liverpool also goalless with Leeds, same for Spurs at Brentford, more nils than a Danish phone book you would say if phone books still existed, meanwhile there was a whopping 1-1 for Palace and Fulham, tomorrow Saturday we begin the second half of the season It all kicks off with Villa hosting Forest at lunchtime on Saturday.

3:59At 3 o 'clock, Brighton take on Burnley and Wolves meet West Ham. Daniel's going to that, of course. At 5.30, Bournemouth face Arsenal, aside who they beat, both home and away last season. Sunday then, 12.30, it's an early kick-off for Leeds and Man United. Then at 3 o 'clock, Fulham take on Liverpool, Spurs face Sunderland, Everton. and the game against Brentford and Newcastle take on Crystal Palace. Rounding things off at 5.30 Sunday, it's Manchester City against Chelsea. But the big question, who will be on the Chelsea bench? Well, to find out more about the biggest story of the year, let's hear now from The Athletic's Simon Johnson, who's been all over this news.

4:42This is the Totally Football Show with James Richardson, part of the Athletic FC podcast network. Simon, Happy New Year. Is it? Yes, happy new year, everybody. How are you doing? Well, January 1st, biggest surprise, apart from discovering that it was actually Thursday, was this breaking news that Enzo Maresca was out at Chelsea. You were following this through New Year's Eve. So, first of all, fired, resigned, mutual consent? What's the story? I think it's that old chestnut, James, where it depends who you speak to, and you almost end up with a sort of the parting of company, which is the parting company, which is how Chelsea phrased it in this statement.

5:25It's the polite way of putting it. It depends who you speak to. On one hand, you hear that Mreski himself resigned and on the other hand, Chelsea also will say that they took the decision and things have become untenable. I think what we can safely say is that them going in their separate directions is probably for the best, that the love affair had well and truly ended. And yes, the fireworks in London were not the only ones going on on New Year's Eve. As you put in your article on New Year's Day, even by Chelsea's standards, this is extraordinary. Just a month ago, Maresca was manager of the month.

6:12There was the 3-0 win over Barcelona. Last summer, as I mentioned, he'd taken them to the top of the world in the Club World Cup. So why did it break down so rapidly? And if it was the club's decision, why did they decide that now, with a massively busy January, was the time to do it? Well, in fairness to the club, I think going all the way up to the Bournemouth game and even after the result itself wasn't the trigger, that they had planned to do... The plan A was still the same, to review everything, not just Mureska, but obviously Mureska's progress as well, at the end of his second season. But things were so clearly beyond repair after the game where Mureska refused to do his media duties.

7:02This is connected to him going away to weigh up his options. I'm told he didn't even say goodbye to his players he just got changed and left but there's a number of factors here you've got the club were getting very frustrated about what they felt were a number of occasions where the medical department they have that they're separate to the head coach and they recommend how long players should be playing for And this is all sort of part of their strategy to help them cope with injury, prevention, load management, and for Chelsea to have a strong end to the season. They felt that he flouted their instructions many times or more than once.

7:54Mareska himself, I think, was getting frustrated that he was taking all the acrimony when he couldn't pick the team he always wanted. and we saw during the Bournemouth game, of course, that Cole Palmer comes off for the second home game in a row and he's getting booed and jeered by the fans. So you can see from his side of frustration. Then he's throwing David Ornstein's story about being approached by Manchester City on a couple of occasions and by duty of his contract, he had to inform the club about this, him and his agent, George Mendes. Juventus also, we are led to believe, made an approach.

8:33and during this he then asked for a new contract. Now, if you're Chelsea, you're going to say, well, hang on a minute, one, you're talking or entertaining conversations for other clubs and two, you're asking for another contract just 18 months or whatever into a five-year deal. So that's obviously going to raise red flags. But as you can tell, I could go on for ages. I'm not sure how long you've got. But this is a classic sort of Chelsea story where there's a number of elements to this story. OK. I mean, we've not got that long, much like your average Chelsea manager. This is, what, the fifth?

9:10How many is this now since they took over Blue Co? Well, it depends if you count Thomas Tuchel, who they inherited. But, of course, they got rid of him within four months of taking over, then hired Graham Potter for a mighty seven months. I'm not counting interims, by the way. So, Bruno Salter, if you're listening, I'm afraid, or Frank Lampard, your mighty 11 game run. I'll not count you guys. Then, of course, Pochettino lasts the season. But Moresca comes up top at about 92 games he lasted. So next guy, who I believe will be, well, Liam Rosini is the leading candidate. It's over to you to try and make it to triple figures.

9:51I mentioned it's a busy January coming up. I think there's nine games in four competitions in the course of this month. and it starts with a visit to Manchester City Sunday afternoon. Do you think that Liam Rossegna might actually be in position for that game? I would say it's probably going to come a bit too soon because whilst it's a pretty easy negotiation in terms of Strasbourg for Chelsea, given that that's their sister club, of course Blue Co. own the parent company, own both Chelsea and Strasbourg. The issue will be, of course, they've got to find a replacement, Bluco, for Liam Rosinia.

10:33And one might sort of think that this is quite a delicate situation, given that Strasbourg fans have made it pretty clear what they think of Bluco already. And this might further inflame the situation. But I think Chelsea, Liam Rossellino's got a great relationship with the sporting directors. The structure is the key at Chelsea. I think they'll see that Liam Rossellino plays a very similar style of football. He knows the structure of Chelsea. He speaks to the sporting directors a lot anyway, but given the relationship between Chelsea and Strasbourg. So it will be felt that he could just drop in and be an easy fit.

11:14But, of course, the tough task he will have is handling that dressing room, which some members inevitably are going to have very sort of mixed feelings about what's been going on. Simon, it's Daniel. I've probably made the mistake of viewing the opinions of Chelsea supporters through social media, which you can take with however much salt you want. But this does feel a very line in the sand moment for Bluco, right? If they go for a senior, they're effectively completely doubling down on the whole strategy that they brought in. They're not taking any criticism of that. They're saying Maresca wasn't Bluco enough rather than we weren't normal football club enough.

11:57That's a huge risk, right? The structure is king. That is immovable. And that will inevitably be a source of great angst in the stands because the supporters will be seeing that only one person is being held accountable in the grand scheme of things for when things go wrong. And questions will be asked. I'm asked it all the time. You can imagine, you know, are these guys being held accountable? Well, quite recently, they're all given contract extensions to 2031. Mareska, as I already highlighted, he wanted a new contract and didn't get one. Perhaps sort of the only one of the team responsible for a Club World Cup win who didn't get a new deal.

12:48But like I said, he had a deal to 2029 with a club option to 2030. So essentially, he was tied down for almost as long as the sporting directors have been given a deal to. But yeah, the structure's king, guys. I can't see Paul Winstrand and Laurence Stewart going anywhere, let alone the guys that have been promoted with them. There's now five, yes, that's right, five sporting directors at Chelsea.

13:19and look, they all sort of see this is a model that they want to commit to, young players, long contracts and all of that and the head coach is going to make it work. Simon, if structure is the king and nothing's going to change on that score, we've seen now two top-level managers in Pochettino and Maresca find it unworkable, how on earth are they going to recruit any manager worth their salt? Like, which decent, proven manager would want to work under that structure? And have they not even considered that? Well, I think they think that is their way or the highway, is their cliche. And I think we can add Thomas Tuchel to that list of names.

14:02He did not take long to perhaps not get on their best side. So, bring it politely. So, yeah, you're right. You're right. It's just sort of flagged that there's clearly a way of working that any head coach will have to adhere to. And you have to toe the party line in the grand scheme of things. You can't, as Maresca did in late August, go public and say, I want a central defender, when everyone knows the club's strategy is for the recruitment team, by and large, to be in charge of that. And they also sort of went back to him and said, look, you've got eight, nine defenders as it is, you know, just try and find a solution internally.

14:50But at the same time, this is Chelsea Football Club. It's as crazy as a club as it is, and there's no disputing that. I actually think they're the champions of that, quite frankly, but I'm a bit biased in that regard. it also still represents a wonderful opportunity even if you're only there for a short time I mean we talk about Maresca his reputation even though he contributed to his departure with some of his behaviour and I don't think I even referenced the 48 hours being the worst of his career just completely unprompted after a win over Everton his only win by the way in his last seven league games it's absolutely crazy um but that he leaves with his career enhanced that he's got a club world cup trophy on his cb a conference league trophy i know i know outside of chelsea that those two achievements a little bit um sort of eyebrows raised how significant they are but they're still two trophies and of course he got them back in the champions league for the first time under this consortium so he's been signed up by super agent george mendez so if you're if you're a ambitious head coach um yes you perhaps know you're walking into a difficult situation that is going to have to be carefully managed and and i'm sure there are managers that have been turned off by it but you hang around there long enough you might pick up a trophy or two and then and then you go on to the next thing when uh when the inevitable parting of ways happens yet again and the club's statement appears on let me think what significant occasion it could be Christmas Day I don't think Chris Chelsea have done one of those yet Simon then finally the trip to Man City your reading of the dressing do you think there's likely to be relief that Maresca's gone might there be a no Maresca bounce or do you think that there's going to be kind of confusion disarray splits even among the team I think it's it's the same as pretty much any departure that you're going to have a bit of everything.

16:55There's definitely going to be Maresca loyalists in there. I'm already led to believe that there's one that is inevitably told a source, very upset, feels like Chelsea back to square one, questions of what kind of message this sends. You're going to have other players that will sort of think, well, I wasn't really given much of a chance under Maresca. Maybe my situation will improve. that perhaps some of his rotation didn't help certain players get into the rhythm they wanted. It's a tough challenge for whoever it is, if it's Rosini or if there's a late curveball switch to someone else. It's a challenge for anyone to pick them up, let alone for the run of games they've got coming up.

17:42I mean, Man City, Chelsea haven't beaten them since the Champions League final 2021. I think if you were doing your pools coupon, out there. I don't think you'd need my advice to say what the result might be. It would be a miracle if Chelsea come away with a point under the circumstances. But they've got no time to sulk, these players. They're still in all four competitions. It gets back to what I was saying about the new appointment, that what an opportunity. There's a League Cup semi-final against Arsenal. They're still in the Champions League and the FA Cup campaign gets underway. So there's still plenty that can be done and there's a top four or five finish to get back in the Champions League too for next season.

18:31The indefatigable Simon Johnson. Yeah, so his New Year's Eve stroke New Year's Day was all about that bombshell at the bridge. And now this game away to City. What a game for whoever it is to debut in. City themselves coming off a busy New Year's Day. Of course, that match at the Stadium of Light, a particularly thrilling nil-nil draw. I'm not sure if, do we all follow that on Thursday evening? Yeah, Adrian, what did you think? I thought it was one of the best nil-nils I've seen in a long, long time. It was a fantastic match. It really was. Sunderland's performance was epic. It was just brimming with intensity and resilience and fight and spirit.

19:16And they carried that attacking threat, particularly in the first half, where they really should have scored a couple of goals with those long balls causing City problems. And then in the second half, City changed things. Rodri came on and then Doku and Gavardio and City really did sort of dominate and swarm all over Sunderland. And then, you know, they did everything but score. Sunderland somehow survived. It was thrilling stuff. I've got to be honest. I was watching it through my fingers because I was desperate for Sunderland to cling on to that point. But I was just full of admiration for Sunderland.

19:54It was a courageous performance because Regis Labris has got that team believing that they can pass under pressure and play forward against any team in the world. and not many promoted sides just have that courage and bravery to go toe-to-toe. Yeah, it was a brilliant match to watch. Well, they've drawn with all of the top three at the Stadium of Light there this season. They also drew at Anfield and won, of course, at Stamford Bridge. That final kind of half-hour, 20 minutes, as their energy began to fade, their box was kind of strewn with Black Cat's body. It looked a little bit like that famous picture of Manchester City Centre on New Year's Eve, you know, the one with the bodies laid out.

20:40But epic, as you say. City coming away with just a point, with big smiles at the end, I thought graciously, as he chatted with various of the opposition players. How do they look going into this clash with Chelsea? Will they be rubbing their hands? They should be. I feel as if this is a very precariously placed title race in that I'm of the belief this is the worst Manchester City will be for three seasons I think Pep Guardiola will do the thing he very often does where he sort of disappears for a little bit sits on the toilet has a brainwave and goes oh right this is a new matter of football so this is Arsenal's not best chance this is a very good presentable chance for Arsenal to win a title and therefore any drop points are good however it's that annoying thing in that facing Sunderland during this time period specifically when there's so many players that parted for AFCON okay let's see what that result might have happened if that was a month later facing Chelsea at this point now you can say many things about Enzo Maresco but he was very good at sort of strategizing for a one-off game and now that's completely sort of gone so you have two or three games which possibly could have been harder if were played six weeks earlier, but now it might be a little bit easier.

22:00So not quite out of it yet. I think if you're City, you're happy about how things are going and you're in this very opportunistic hunting position while Arsenal just keep on going and going and going. Indeed they do. We'll talk about what Arsenal did midweek very shortly. Moses Casado, to add to the Chelsea concerns, Moses Casado suspended for this match. Cole Palmer facing his former club with his score. Not the biggest narrative about the game, but it's won. What do you think is going to happen, Daniel? Yeah, I think it's the easiest team to what the Guardiola will give because if you start quickly against Chelsea now and make them look confused, you'll probably persuade the players that they are a bit confused and they don't really know what they're doing.

22:45The longer the game goes on at 0-0, Chelsea will be happy and they have enough talent to win the game. City also have this... Chelsea aren't always great at dealing with those big games where they're expected to win. I'm thinking back, the Champions League final that Simon mentioned is a perfect example of that. They sometimes, we talk about Pep overthinking, but the players almost look as if they're not quite sure how to deal with that big game dominance sometimes. But they should win the game because Chelsea not only haven't got a manager at the moment and haven't necessarily got a plan for the match, they've also not been very good recently.

23:22you know they have only beaten Everton recently they've been sloppy defensively they look like they it's kind of gone back to Cole Palmer does something or nobody else does which is a problem the substitutes we've talked about before but the lack of experience on the bench and you know the struggles of players like Jamie Gittins to affect the game in an attacking sense Manchester City's substitutes are going to be far far stronger so yeah I expect a City win the next three match weeks feel absolutely mammoth for the title race because Arsenal do struggle a bit at the against Bournemouth they're coming off the back of the big Villa win but they've got obviously Liverpool in midweek which has its own kind of demons from previous seasons and dropped leads I remember that 2-2 that was instrumental in this title race so yeah I feel like after about 10 days time we're going to have a really really firm grip on where this title race is at I bet you we don't all right very shortly we'll head back to Tuesday for two big results one at each end of the Premier League table involving Arsenal and a team called Wolves.

24:31This is the Totally Football Show part of the Athletic FC podcast network The Athletic is the only place you can read articles by Daniel Taylor, Amy Lawrence, Phil Hay James Pearce, Oli Kay and the very best football writers around Odegaard winning it from Sancho Brilliant ball through, Superman Arsenal are flying now his captain picked out the pass and Superlendy finished ruthlessly. All right, Tuesday, Arsenal with that 4-1 win against Aston Villa. It feels like a long time ago now, but bears recalling in all of the magnificence, Adrian, particularly that second half, which saw Arsenal absolutely tear through Villa, ending their 11-game winning run and, as we now discover, moving four points clear.

25:24What's the turning point? Poor Emi Martinez and his unfortunate error for Gabriel's opener. Yeah, I mean, obviously it was because from that moment onwards, Arsenal, you know, absolutely crushed Aston Villa. So, yeah, they just needed that breakthrough and it was a gift, wasn't it? It was a good, good, good corner. Emi Martinez preoccupied with shoving Tielemans and Gabriel out of the way to create space. doesn't tie his jump, messes it up and we score. But no, what I thought... Nobody wanted to see that at the Emirates. Oh, no, no, not at all. No, because he's such a likeable character, isn't he?

26:00Emi Martinez. Did you see that video of him blocking the tunnel pre-match? I don't know if he was meditating over the ball, but he's crouching over a ball in the middle of the tunnel, making all the staff from Arsenal walk around him. It was bizarre. Anyway, the narrative for me of the game or the key sort of tactical thing to note was how brave Arsenal were. They wanted to go and press and hunt and squeeze up and win the ball high. And in the first half, they didn't get it right. And they left themselves one-on-one, two-v-two at the back. And Villa carved us open numerous times. And Arsenal were lucky, or were lucky rather, not to concede.

26:43Second half, instead of sort of being worried about that, they just did it better. They carried on with that policy, taking chances, and the midfield completely dominated. And, yeah, it was wave after wave of sort of attacks that came through turnovers. And, yeah, I thought it was a brilliant performance, brilliant second half, and some superb individual displays. I think Erdegaard, you can probably say he's getting back to his best. Trossard has been magnificent this season, and that was another top performance. And Zubamendi also stood out for me. So I think, yeah, those three were the pick of a very, very strong second half.

27:24And it was a Arsenal needed a scalp. Before that, the only sort of big rival they'd beaten was Man United. And let's be honest, they're not really rivals for anything this season. So they needed this win. And I'm very, very happy that they got it. You warned me, Adrian. Sorry, Carl. So many positives, not least the fact that it came without. Declan Rice, this statement victory. Zubamendi with the second goal after Gabriel's opener. C. Panayotu says, Do the pod agree that Arsenal's best signing has in fact been Zubamendi, a defensive midfielder having so much impact on their play? Who knew? Briefly, Adrian?

28:04Yeah, of the summer signings, yeah, he's played the most. He's played the most by far. He definitely makes... He's more nimble than the players that they had before and that speeds up Arsenal's play with and without the ball. So, yeah, he's been a great sign. And the others have all had good moments, but they're not sort of nailed down a regular spot. Zubimendi absolutely has. OK. And like a new signer, Gabriel Jesus, who came on and after 55 seconds had scored his first goal since New Year's Day 2025. Another very positive element about the result on Tuesday. And then afterwards, he was rocking that famous Kaká T-shirt that proclaimed, I belong to Jesus, which actually, if he wears it, is that not essentially just a big name tag?

28:50Yeah, it's a statement from the T-shirt rather than a statement from him, isn't it? That was his, remarkably, 77th Premier League goal, but his first from outside the box. He'd never scored in the Premier League from outside the box. Incredible. That's what happens when you go to the Premier League under Pep Guardiola and are immediately converted into a poaching striker. I was really pleased for him and pleased for Arsenal because Jokeres struggled again, I think. He isn't really fitting. But with Jesus coming back and Havertz presumably back pretty soon as well, there are suddenly three options for a position that for the last couple of months it's very much felt like one or Mikel Marino.

29:33So that's huge as well. Arteta seeing off title rivals Aston Villa and fellow Basque Unai Emery. He's got another Basque rival manager coming up this weekend with Bournemouth Arsenal, which is Saturday tea time. Will it be another Basque bashing against Andone Iriola? What do you think? Cherries did the double over the Gunners last season. It's not the same Cherries. I was there for the 4-4 draw against Manchester United and I asked Iriola about how... I asked him specifically about Semenyo's performance and they asked him about how he believes his attacking team strengths work. And he replied talking about how, for the most part, the training ground now is about working on defence because they've just lost so many players.

30:19And unfortunately, we're seeing now a Premier League middle class where all the Bs and all the Ws are a little bit weaker than they were last season because so many of them have been picked off by some of the Premier League's supposed bigger boys. So while Bournemouth can hurt you, and we know about their high press and we know about how dangerous they can be on the transition. I'd say the last three seasons of second-place finishes has made Mikel Arteta uniquely skilled at preventing Bournemouth from doing what they want to do. This is why you go out and buy a play-like with Mendy. This is why you go off and buy backups like Marino and Norgard.

30:53And this is why you work so hard on set pieces. And I think what you'll most likely get is what we're seeing repeatedly now Arsenal is 20 minutes of perhaps controlled arm wrestle and then you get the opening goal and then from then on they just go through the gears and drop the hammer on you. I've said it before the game they had earlier this season against Atletico Madrid was frightening at just how they go from 1-0 to 4-0 very very quickly and I think that's the most likely result. Kyle you mentioned the W's not as strong this year you saw one of them in action on Tuesday didn't you? I mentioned two big games on Tuesday at either end of the table.

31:31Wolves very much in last place getting their third point of the season at Old Trafford and you were there to witness it. First off was it a deserved draw? Sort of I suppose it was it was really a dreadful at least 40 minutes of football. Both teams sort of accidentally ambling through the motions there was more than one occasion I felt myself I felt the urge to scream the ball moves faster than you can run move it yeah, two or three players sort of struggling with it as if they were trying to go through molasses but there you go the Wolves fans were with fine voice absolutely, we scored a goal can we play every week, all the hits plenty of Man United fans weren't able to control their urge to scream a lot of boos at the final whistle it is It is a remarkable situation.

32:24United failing to put away a team that hasn't won a single game so far this season. We've just seen a manager lose his job. A manager who just won the world title not long ago, as well as, as Simon mentioned, the Europa Conference League. Ameren, meanwhile, in the last year, has had 13 wins, 11 draws and 14 defeats in the league. He's not won any trophies at all. This season, even with no European fixtures, he still doesn't look like getting Man United into the top four. How come there's still no pressure on him? In my opinion, it's to do with the people that hired him. I think if Ruben Amarillo was removed, it'd probably kickstart a very serious conversation about the competency, efficacy of the Ineos hierarchy, much in the same way as the conversation right now is about Blue Co as an institution and how they're running a football club.

33:18and at this point in time there seems to be a very very strong relationship between Ruben Amarin and Sir Jim Radcliffe there's that October podcast on the Times Business podcast where Radcliffe said let's give him three years so he can prove himself so you've essentially got a head coach who is working on the job or sort of getting the chance to grow it's a very unique circumstance I've said it multiple times on Talk of Devils I would really really really want to know what Jose Mourinho thinks of this can I ask you Carl what you think of of of the the change of tack now I don't know if we played for a back three or a back four the other day but because I know that it was a little bit of a hybrid but he for him to sort of have the the nerve really to say yeah I finally decided that we're ready to change this this formation like it's just we need longer with the back three I mean it's so it's laughable really given given that the whole world has been telling him it's not going to work for back three so what what did the sort of manchester united uh media guys yourself included make of all that well um i believe it was before the newcastle game i believe so box boxing though please forgive me they're all jumbled up in my head um and he was asked about wingbacks and the situation given that um he's without amadialo he's without brandon bumo he's up nusmas rowi um and then right at the end of the press conference he goes oh we'll see you If you have to play a back four, we'll play a back four.

34:46And everyone in the room went, ooh. And yeah, yeah, you weren't ready for that, which is this sort of, it's such a strange situation in that. Well, it's never been done before. Yes. It is being treated as if it's never been done before. It's being, it's this sort of princess bride. I'm not left-handed.

35:08And yet it seems like such an obvious, simple change. Adrian, you said you didn't quite know. for the majority of the game against Wolves it was a back three it was a back five going straight back to what we've been seeing for the majority of the last 10, 11 months so you see Ruben Amri was asked about that why didn't you continue with the back four as seen against Bournemouth and in phases against Newcastle and he said well he wanted to match the shape of Wolves which you're making a chuckle which is one of those things where my eyebrow immediately just like flew up my head of going why are you trying to match shape you've been the worst team in the league thank you that was my thought why are you trying to match shape with the worst football team in the league however that was his approach um there was a half-time change where Joshua Zerksy was taken off he was playing as a sort of right 10 and then Jack son of Darren Fletcher came on and that was explained later on as a tactical change rather than an injury one Ruben Aron again saying he felt like he needed more bodies in midfield which again a little bit my eyebrows going up going, wait, you need more midfield bodies against Wolves, against what is going to be a historically, they're going to be historically bad.

36:20They're going to be up there with, perhaps they're not going to break the Derby County record, but they will be spoken of in the same way as Derby, as Southampton, as one of those Sheffield United teams as well. So, a very honest and brave post-match press conference, but also very non-courageous football. Is that not as you say Carl if he's been told and he seemingly believes he's got three years to learn on the job like that all stems from the top right if you tell a guy that you can do whatever you want if you think it's going to work and there's no pressure on you for x number of months like it's quite easy to be honest and say yeah I just tried it or yeah we're going to try this now or you know there's no accountability there is there at the moment and then eventually maybe even already you might argue that seeps down to players so there's no accountability there either there are circumstances this is a very unique period for several teams in the Premier League I think we do need to speak a little bit more about the dip several clubs have due to AFCON Manchester United have lost their two best attackers in my opinion this season and Bruno Fernandes as well and Bruno Fernandes is injured Mason Mount is injured it was very again another thing Amarim said that made my eyebrow go what is he said we don't have Mason Mount we don't have Mainu.

37:41I went, hang on, you've not been playing Mainu, but now he's just this sort of miss. So United are without, I'd say, four of their best attacking players. And yet it is Wolves. It is a Wolves thing. I was on Sunday something with Jackie Oatley. She described Wolves as beyond abysmal. I don't think... I feel that's harsh. And Wolves have, correct me if I'm wrong, they've not been that bad without obviously picking up a win or pretty much any points till this mark of the season. But they've not been that bad. I know you're going along on Saturday to see their game against West Ham at Molyneux. Is that because on Tuesday you saw signs of life?

38:25You thought maybe against West Ham this could be the match? I mean, I've labelled it in my head as the misery derby, so that probably tells you all you need to know. I think you're right about Wolves not being that bad, But I think that is only a judgment against how bad you expect a team with three points from half a season to be rather than, you know, Wolves could feasibly, if you'd have told Wolves fans at the start of the season they'd finish 17th, they'd probably been a bit annoyed. They'd have taken it, but they'd have been like, well, there's no sign of progress. They are on three points from half a season.

38:56So they are historically bad. I am also in this weird psychology I think a few of us are whereby you go and watch Wolves now and West Ham at home is probably the best example of this being possible but you think well they could win this Wolves but then I thought that before I watched them play Brentford and they got beaten 2-0 at home and you know every time you think they might not be as bad as you think they are they show you why they're as bad as they are with Wolves so that's why I'm going I will say they haven't proved or sort of changed their approach since they lost 4-1 at Molineux to Manchester United.

39:32I thought the way they came out in the second half against United there was surprisingly open. And it feels as if Rob Edwards has gone, right, we can't go toe-to-toe with some of the bigger teams. You can make your own joke there. So let's try and be a little bit more robust. And they've looked more resilient since then. Talking to some of the Wolves journalists at Old Trafford, and they were saying it really does now seem as if if they are going to get their first win it'll probably happen away from home because it seems like now the pressure at Molyneux is just too much it seems like there's a fan protest understandably, justifiably there's a fan protest before a game sort of every week once they go a goal down the fans get on players' backs confidence drops and they're not the most confident right now at the moment whereas at least away from home there's a couple of chants I mean Mane seems to be a player I mean, he was playing non-league for Rochdale not too long ago.

40:27And yet he seems to have a bit of quality. I'll be really interested to see what he can do if he goes down into the championship next season. So good luck, Daniel. Yeah, they're in, Wolves are in stopping the bleeding mode, basically. They're in kind of, yeah, they're in firefighter mode. And the West Ham game is interesting because this is probably their best chance. They've already played Forest at home. this is their best chance to actually go out and try and make fans feel something at Molineux that isn't just protest. Yeah, if they play like they did at Manchester United, and I too thought they looked good at times, good energy about them, they produced some good attacks, a higher XG than Manchester United on the day.

41:09If they play like that at home against this West Ham who can't defend, I quite fancy them. It's just that there's no body of evidence to suggest that they can play this way at home. So that's the challenge. If they can, I think they'll beat West Ham, even though Nuno, I think, has won both times. He's gone back to Molyneux as an opposing manager. So, yeah. As Daniel mentioned, so that time when we all thought they might against Brentford is a worrying precedent. You're going on to see that. Man United, meanwhile, this weekend have a trip to Elland Road just to finish off this chunk. Carl, how big a fixture is this beyond Man United's worries away at Ellen Road against Leeds United?

41:53Huge, it's a way you put your best foot forward if you now look at the draws that occurred on Thursday Manchester United once again have a presentable opportunity to push ahead out of that sort of middle class peloton and towards those Champions League places there's been three or four games where you look at the live table when United get a goal up and they're like, oh, look, they're second or they're fourth or they're fifth. And then they inevitably draw or fail to lose entirely. So big result there. And also, I mean, I can throw a pass to whoever wants it, but I'm just in awe of this Leeds transformation post the most recent international break.

42:34Leeds continuing their unbeaten run on Thursday with a pretty inspiring 0-0 draw away at Anfield against Liverpool. I was actually beyond all the league position and possibilities for Man United. It's also one of the kind of storied rivalries, eh, Daniel Struy? Yeah, Battle of the Roses, et cetera, et cetera. It's one of those games that if you're new to football or new to the Premier League or new to English football, you might not appreciate just how much these two clubs hate each other. I think with Liverpool, it's almost so geographically ingrained that it almost goes without saying. Whereas Leeds, Man United catches you off guard with the hatred, particularly the game at Ellen Road, because there is this kind of chip on the shoulder, we will do you attitude from Leeds and Leeds United.

43:26And it should be said, that goes absolutely hand in hand with how Leeds are playing at the moment. If you were going to design a fixture for this kind of band of big bastard, Daniel Farker footballers to unnerve you and get in your face and service the ball to Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who we should note was left out of the side for the game at Anfield, so he would be ready for this one, presumably. It is going to take, it's going to create an atmosphere in which Manchester United are not going to be able to wilt and they look like quite a wilty team at the moment with the absentees they have. So, yeah, if Amarin hasn't spent this week watching videos of 90s Premier League years to understand how much these teams hate each other, he's a fool because that is it.

44:10There's something in the air at Ellen Road on Man United at home days. And I remember that first season they came back in the Premier League. It was like, and they spoke to fans at the start of the season. It was like, which games are you looking forward to? And all of them without fail were like, Man United at home, Man United at home, Man United at home. They really, really, really want to win this one. It feels like a game that almost demands the weather to be bad. You want this game to have it chucking it down in the rain. and from a Man United perspective you want Harry Maguire to be fit so if you've any one any one player you want Bruno Fernandes back but Harry Maguire feels like one of the players uniquely situated to deal with the robust sort of agricultural football that is supposed to be happening there so yeah it'll be it'll be a thriller I'm expecting a lot of cards and corners I was going to say it's got Lissandro Martinez booking yellow card four minutes written all over this game there you go Excellent.

45:06So one or two other things to mention from both the midweek and the weekend coming up before we get on to AFCON. We'll do that next.

45:18You're listening to the Totally Football Show with James Richardson, now with you four times a week. Keep up to date with us on Insta and enjoy seeing glorious Technicolor on YouTube at the Totally Show. Socoratic Method writes in they say, which player stroke coach do you predict to have a redemption arc in 2026? Interesting question. Maybe we'll get some nominations at the end of this show which proceeds now with a, oh, we're not to the transfer window because it's open, of course with January underway. Antoine Semenyo could well be a Man City player by the time you hear this podcast or if he does go there, will Will they let him stay a little bit longer at Bournemouth so he can play against their title rivals Arsenal this Saturday?

46:02And where would he even fit into this now pretty defined Man City starting 11? Questions? There's no obvious place in the team for him, is there? Not with this sort of way that City are playing at the moment with a 4-3-2-1. Doku is the immediate rival because most of Semenyo's matches this season have been on the left wing. Docku is their left winger. Docku, as he showed against Sunderland, he's pretty good. Doesn't always produce the final pass, but he's unreal, really, on the ball. Foden's playing well. Cherky's playing well. Harland's locked in, obviously. But he gives them another option, doesn't he?

46:45So, yeah, if I'm City, I suppose you would let him play against Arsenal, wouldn't you? You wouldn't rush it through. but obviously you're risking a possible injury by doing so. But yeah, I wish he wasn't going to City from an Arsenal perspective because he's another good player. But I don't see, I don't really see where he fits in. I mean, the joy or the treat of Semenya is that he's especially too fitted. I think the only player who's scored more goals with either foot since the start of last season was Son. That might even go back further. so he can play on either side Upgrade on Savigno, Karl?

47:26He's pretty an upgrade Yes I would say he's an upgrade on Savigno Daniel will be able to speak I think both of you will be able to speak on this truer than me but there are times now when I'm watching Semenyo and I'm going that's Sadio Mane in his last season at Southampton that sort of potential that sort of you are very clearly a Champions League quality or Champions League quarterfinal quarterfinal quality player you can play on multiple positions across that front three. And also you've done the sort of dirty work through your unconventional route to the top table that you are willing to press.

48:01You're willing to do the dirty work. You know how to buy a foul. You know how to drag a defender into sort of deep waters before you absolutely ruin them. You can do the skill moves, but you don't actually want to do the skill moves because you're about efficiency as well. So I can see why loads of clubs want him. Adrian I think you are bang on in there is merit in letting him play against Arsenal however the nature of his release clause makes it tricky because by all accounts this 65 million release clause is only active for the first 10 days of this win though so if you play you've got to get all that paperwork and fax machine stuff done super duper quickly I'm also super interested in the reason why the release clause is only active for the first 10 days is because Bournemouth go if you take him we need to I've spent the other 20 getting a replacement, and I'll be fascinated to see how Bournemouth got about replacing, well, him.

48:52Getting a study of money, by the sound of it. Plenty of other deals in the offing. Palace, for example, have agreed a£35 million deal with Spurs to sign Brenna Johnson. Palace, who've just learned that Eddie Nketiah is going to be out for six weeks with a hamstring injury. Johnson not getting much of a look-in under Thomas Frank at his freewheeling Tottenham Hotspur. it's a really odd one in that a Brennan Johnson uh was the guy who scored the goal who won Tottenham the their first trophy in 17 years and scored quite a lot of goals last season uh 18 in all competitions um which is a very good record for a guy who's in and out of the team and isn't a necessarily a natural center forward it's also odd because Thomas Frank spent so long chasing him when he was at Forest, that he would be a perfect part of his Brentford team.

49:44Now he's at a different club now, clearly, and maybe the levels required are higher. But yeah, it's a surprising one. He's also being sold it as a loss. They bought him for 47 million and he's going for 35. Well, is that a gain for Spurs letting him go? That's the bit I don't understand, unless they've obviously got someone in mind to upgrade. But there are other players at Spurs I'd probably rather get shot off. Who would you sell, Adrian? well they've only just signed Tell but I just don't think he's up to it Colin Moani as well in the just arrived but not good enough list no Johnson's perfect for Palace it's a great purchase for them I think because he's a low touch player he's efficient he's quick on the counter Pinho hasn't really done it he's good but can you rely on him for regular goals I'm not so sure So it makes sense on every level for Palace.

50:39But for Spurs, I'm not so sure what the upside is. Alistair Gold points out that if Johnson departs, it'll be the third year in a row that Spurs have sold their top scorer from the previous season. Remarkable. Spurs, who, as we probably saw, were also involved in a goalless draw on Thursday, Jack Pickbrook writing for the Athletic. I really hope that this, referring Brentford 0-0 with Spurs, I really hope that this is the worst football match that takes place in 2026 in any league at any level. If there's anything worse than that, something's gone wrong. Brentford fans singing boring, boring Tottenham as the game wore on and the travelling Spurs fans joining in.

51:17It was so bad. It was laughably bad. Spurs, like a control experiment for how little creativity you can put into a football team at the moment. is so stodgy. There's sort of half chances where you think they might create a one-on-one situation and they almost deliberately move away from it to make it full about control. Well, we've got three players in the middle of the party. You've only got two, so we know we can control the game. It's like, yeah, but you've got to score goals as well, guys. And it looked absolutely terrible. It was an awful, awful match. Thomas Frank looks scared to lose and that's not what Spurs fans want to see from the manager when they go and go away to a team like Brentford.

51:59So, yeah, he looks a bit haunted to me at the moment. He looks a little bit... Doesn't look happy or comfortable. We know he's a good guy. We know he's a good manager. But I don't know if it's going to work because Spurs supporters expect a very different type of football to that which he's serving up. All right, we'll see if he does any better this weekend as Spurs host Sunderland on their first ever visit to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. West Ham, apparently, have turned up a striker in the search for some goal-scoring potential. Gil Vicente forward Pablo, who's netted nine times in the Portuguese top flight this season, is apparently on his way.

52:40There's also talk of a reunion between Nuno and Adama Traore at Fulham, who together, of course, at wars. And it sounds like maybe a second striker. Catalanos coming in from La Liga. It's like, I mean, this is incredibly West Ham and you think this guy is probably pretty good. And if we put all three of these signings together, it makes a really, really effective player. But yeah, it's a gamble. It's clearly a gamble. George Tran Larson was one of the options mooted and it sounds like West Ham didn't really want to pay the 40 million. So they're going to end up paying nearly 40 million for two strikers rather than one.

53:20and I think we said it last week but this will decide whether they stay up or go down the success of these strikers because they're not good enough at defending. They need to score two goals a game at the moment to get, well, most games to get anything at all but certainly to win. So yeah, this is it. These are the two dice rolled on the table. One guy from Portugal who's really young and raw and has scored a few goals. Yeah, I said La Liga before but one guy from Lazio who scored 10 league goals last season but hasn't, I think he's only started seven or eight Serie A games this season. So, yeah, two absolute rolls of the dice in West Ham.

53:57Described as hard-working but erratic. Yeah, so West Ham, basically. Good. Sorry, who have they got from Latia? I missed this completely. Tati Catalanos, is it? Ah, Catajanos, yeah. There's a player in there, Daniel. Which is, yeah, which is exactly why he's going to go to West Ham because that's the West Ham set-up and punchline, right? there's a player in there and then the punchline is but not at West Ham and that's what it's always been and that's what it's always destined to be I say this as someone whose favourite team is one position above West Ham and playing them next week so aware that this can blur up in my face but yeah it strikes a huge gamble those two strikers.

54:35Just four points between you and West Ham now Plus goal difference James plus goal difference Well any other big transfer news or prospective moves All right, then. In which case, just to round up one or two other things that we should mention from midweek and what's coming up in the weekend, Newcastle are hosting Crystal Palace on Sunday. Newcastle had their third away win of the season back on Tuesday when they beat Burnley 3-1. Was it 3-1? 3-1 at Turf Moor. Now, they've got a good record against Palace as well. Palace, who had a 1-1 draw on Thursday with Fulham. they beat the Eagles 4-0 at St James' Park two seasons ago and then 5-0 last season so logic suggests etc and so on Fulham who were the other half of that 1-1 draw with Palace on Thursday meantime are going to be hosting Liverpool a fixture which they actually won Fulham 3-2 back in April and they're on a bit of a run of form as well they looked good didn't they at Palace I thought Did you see quickly, very quickly, the one thing they didn't do well was when they conceded the goal to Mateta.

55:48But the defender, Georges Cuenca, sort of over-exaggerated a head injury. Sort of was holding his face to, you know, making a fuss over nothing. The referee insisted he had to go off the pitch because he was absolutely fine. And while he was off the pitch, they raided down that side and scored. so it was a lesson learned for those head injury pretenders that are out there and there's lots of them in the Premier League this season. Mark Cucuella, can you hear me? But they look sharp in this game and they really should have beaten Palace so based on what I saw of Liverpool and I watched that game against Leeds Liverpool have to be much better to avoid an upset against Fulham because they're looking pretty sharp to me.

56:35Daniel Forrest have Villa who will be smarting after their 4-1 defeat at the hands of Arsenal on Tuesday and are so strong at home as well Yeah Forrest are terrible at the moment Forrest have very much fallen into the too good to go down camp I think in the first half of this season anyone who has watched them play Everton twice and Fulham over the Christmas period or December period and lost those games by an aggregate of 6-0 and barely created a chance of note, to be honest, will know that they are not too good to go down. It's very much supporting everybody that's playing West Ham at the moment, which may or may not form part of my reason for being at Molyneux on Saturday afternoon to be the one lone positive Wolves voice at Molyneux.

57:20Two more games from the weekend to mention. One sees Everton, who beat Forest, on Tuesday 2-0. 2-0. Yeah, 2-0. We'll be hosting Brentford, who had that goalless draw with Spurs. And Brighton are up against Burnley. Brighton six games without a win now, but Burnley ten games without a win. We'll see what happens on Saturday, three o 'clock. Their last meeting, by the way, was back in 2024. Produced one of the all-time classic goalkeeping blunders. Do you remember this from Arjanet Moric, who... Oh, yeah. facing a simple back pass, swung his foot at it, failed to connect and just saw it sail underneath him and then into the net.

58:05They've scored first in 13 games this season. Burnley. Oh, and Moritz has lost it! Oh, it's a disaster! While he scrambled back, in a manner, this is something we didn't mention, we really should herald it, the extraordinary recovery from the Wolves' keeper. Jose Sarr, yeah. Jose Sarr, yes. Jose Sarr on Tuesday. That was such a moment. Yeah, happened moments after his apparent hamstring injury. Talk us through what happened. So sort of two or three back passes, an errant sort of nodded back pass over to Jose Sarr. And he just sort of legged it top speed to claw the ball off his goal line. it felt like such a guaranteed goal that Diogo Dalo instead of chasing the ball to ensure it was going to go in I don't want to say he was celebrating because that might be harsh but he did jump twice jumping up and down and his arms were in the air and yeah so it's some incredible work and yes perhaps another lesson for the goalkeepers that keep falling over there's a few of those while we sort of briefly touch on Everton I just want to mention James Garner.

59:25Fantastic performance against Forrest. Obviously a former club of his. Good goal. But the assist. The assist for Tiano Barry was a thing of beauty. Because he got Murillo up his backside, doesn't he? But the turn he produces to get past Murillo is ridiculously good. And then he finds one of the best three balls you'll see all season for Barry. So, yeah, Garner, good player. And that was some win for Everton. And I know Forrest aren't in good shape, but four of their front six were not first choice. I think two of their back four are understudies as well. So that was a very depleted Everton. Apparently that's something Garner's been working on, particularly turning with the ball.

1:00:10It's not been his strength in recent seasons. He can be a little slower, particularly under pressure. But this is something he's been working on too. And also Therno Barry, which is a player who I had big hopes for at the start of the season, but didn't get the best start. He gave an interview saying he's been watching some Romelu Lukaku footage. And if Lukaku did it, maybe I need to do this, which is one of those statements that makes you feel very, very old. And also reminds you how good Romelu Lukaku has been at phases of his career. So I want to see more of both of those players in particular for Everton.

1:00:42All right. Well, there's loads more we could say about the Premier League, but we're kind of overdue to catch up with Meher Mazzahi. So from talk of Ghana, let's go to a competition that they didn't qualify for, distressingly for that segue. AFCON next.

1:01:03This is the Totally Football Show with James Richardson, part of the Athletic FC podcast network. AFCON. Group stages are now concluded and Saturday, last 16 gets underway. maheer mazahi joins us now to bring us up to speed maheer happy new year to you how's everything going happy new year it's all going well uh we have a two-day break now within the afghan so we can all sort of sleep a little bit wash our clothes cut our hair all that stuff you know excellent how would you characterize the group stages a lot of talk about the big a little bit flat perhaps no no real upsets some highlights in there but all the favorites going through you.

1:01:41That's exactly it. I think it was predictable. And Riyad Mahrez spoke about this. He said that the reason why favorites or quote-unquote big teams have done so well in this AFCON so far is because the pitches are pristine, because the weather maybe reflects more European weather where a lot of these players play. So as a result, the results are a little more predictable. I guess things like humidity and pitch conditions can act as equalizers. I remember the first time I learned the word humidity in Arabic, it's rutoba. And it's because the Algerian national team coach was trying to explain how his national team lost to Malawi 3-0 in the opening match of the 2020 10 African Cup of Nations.

1:02:27And the Algerians went ballistic. Like, you cannot explain losing 3-0 to Malawi by humidity. But maybe he had a point. I don't know. I don't know. So there's been a lot of talk about the brand new stadiums that Morocco has built for the tournament and sort of how it plays into their possible future World Cup bids as well. Are these new stadiums good? Are these new stadiums building a good atmosphere? Those are two different questions, Carl. Are they nice? Absolutely. Like the Prince Muley Abdallah Stadium, I think, is the nicest stadium I've seen in Africa. They have this wraparound television screen that can show the scores or replays.

1:03:05It's something I've seen in American stadiums. I've never seen it, I think, even in matches I've been to in Europe. The pitches, as we've mentioned, are pristine. It was pouring rain for Tunisia versus Uganda. I thought for sure there would be a little bit of pools of water. It would be a little bit waterlogged. That wasn't the case at all. The drainage systems have been incredible as well. Now, have they made for a good atmosphere? I think that's a different question. there's a really good op-ed in a Moroccan media named Talkel called Rabat the Administrative versus Casablanca the Popular and what they were mentioning was that Rabat is hosting a third of these matches in the African Cup of Nations there's four stadiums that are hosting matches in Rabat Casablanca though it's the soul of football in Morocco it's where you have Ouida Casablanca it's where you have Raja Casablanca but Casablanca is also associated with I don't want to say hooliganism but more unruly fans and so the state kind of wanted to avoid Casablanca and wanted to keep everything in Rabat where again the avenues are wide the gardens are perfectly manicured everybody could sort of be controlled so to speak so people don't like to talk about that but I think it's made for a little bit more of a tame atmosphere at this African Cup of Nations and I think they've missed the trick I think hosting more matches in Casablanca would have made for a better atmosphere Who have been the biggest winners and losers of the group stage would you say?

1:04:29It has to be. Yeah. Okay. So biggest winners, if we're going to go individuals, Riyad Mahrez has a, I don't want to talk about Algeria too much, but he has to shout because he was very highly criticized coming into this tournament and he's finished the group stages with three goals in two matches. Ayub El-Kabi has become world famous for his incredible bicycle kicks. He has two and three matches now. Biggest losers, how about Gabon, who, the Minister of Sport, just come out and said that the national team has been suspended until further notice and that Pierre-Americk Aubameyang and Bruno Akwale Manga have been distanced for the national team also until further notice.

1:05:08A little bit of a communique, I think, from a different era. It reminds me of Ahmed Sakuture from Guinea, who I think had a little bit of a tribunal at the national stadium after the 1972 Afcon final, after Guinea lost that one to Congo-Bresville. This is not how things are supposed to go anymore. But I think what people have to keep in mind is that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was very, very close to the previous president, Ali Bongo. Ali Bongo called him personally on his cell phone to try and convince him to come back out of international retirement to play at the previous African Cup of Nations.

1:05:39Ali Bongo is somebody that was giving lavish gifts to many Gabonese national team players. He's somebody that paid Lionel Messi$3 million to come and lay down just one brick of what was supposed to be a football academy that never saw the light of day. So he was that kind of president, very close to these international footballers. And Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang supported him in his bid for re-election. But before he was re-elected, his cousin, Bryce Olingi and Gemma, ended up overthrowing him in a coup d 'etat. that and so I think that proximity to the former administration could also maybe explain some of what we've been seeing.

1:06:11Kouda Taz in presidential voting in football is this is there are so many AFCON stories that I can ask you here could you help bring some light to the situation at Cameroon because going into the tournament it seemed like there were two squads that were named? yeah i think that was more media speculation than than anything else uh because the minister the war in cameroon is between the minister of sports and samuel eto who's the president of the federation uh so the federation to be completely cared doesn't have the money for example to hire a coach uh especially one that's making 20 to 30 000 a month which is not a huge amount of money in world football, but for Cameroon, it's a hefty sum.

1:06:56So what the Ministry of Sport have done is they've signed what they call a convention, an agreement, to say that the Ministry of Sport is going to pay the salary of the coach. Obviously, there's a clear conflict of interest there. This, I think, is not how things are usually done. I think FIFA is not completely at ease with this. And what ends up happening is that Samuel Eto 'o, when he's hired, sorry, when he's named or voted Cameroonian Federation president, initially names Rigo Bersang as the coach. Rigo Bersang has poor results. He's fired. He wants to name another coach. But the Ministry of Sports steps in and says, no, actually, we're going to name it.

1:07:30Since we're paying his salary, we're the ones that are going to name him. And that's what kicks off this ministry versus federation war that's been going on for 24 months. And I'm going to spare you the details, but it's very, very messy. However, it seems like Samuel Eto 'o, when he won re-election very convincingly a few months ago, has sort of been proven right because Cameroon's bid to qualification for the 2026 World Cup also failed. So that was seen as a failure from the ministry's part. And what Samuel Ato has done, I know this is a little bit lengthy, I'm sorry, but what Samuel Ato has done well when I speak to Cameroonians is that he has placed a focus on domestic football.

1:08:08So there was always huge delays in salaries being paid. Since Samuel Ato has arrived, that has been a little bit better. Players have received basic health insurance, but they have received basic health insurance. And now what he's also done is he's brought in local coaches. So I think this is a thing. He hired Rigo Bressang, who's Cameroonian. And now he's gone back to David Pagu, who's a respected uncle sort of figure in Cameroon. He helped take Bamenda to the African Champions League. And from the beginning of the tournament, they were all telling me, look, he's going to play a 3-5-1-1. He's going to want his players to play very vertically.

1:08:40He's going to want his players to press. And what he's done very well, David Pagu, is the average age of the squad versus Kotevar was 24.7 years old. He's left André Onan at home. He's left Vincent Aboubakar at home. He's left André-Franc Zambogiza, who was injured anyways. And he's brought these young players who are hungry and who are willing to execute what he wants. And it's looked very, very coherent. They look good. Algeria, along with Nigeria, the only teams with 100 % winning records so far. Nigeria go on Monday against Mozambique, who on the back of their very first ever win at AFCON are through to the last 16.

1:09:12But tell us about South Africa Cameroon and anything else you fancy from the last 16, Mahir. South Africa have been very disappointing. I was bigging them up on the Todi Football Show and other places as well prior to the tournament. They haven't got their midfield balance correct. So they play with a double pivot, Yaya Satole next to Tebaho Mukwena, who's one of the best midfielders playing on the African continent for Mamaluye Sundowns. But then they've been playing with a number 10, whose name is Sipo Mbule. He plays for Orlando Pirates. They call him the master chef. very creative player uh can take shots from you know 25 30 yards out i really like him but defensively the distance between a double pivot and the number 10 has been far too wide and against zimbabwe for example uh the goal that zimbabwe score the first goal that they score it's six uh six south african defenders versus five zimbabwean attackers and it wasn't like the south africans were rushing back to to defend at all um and to one day maswanite just dribbles past two, three players for a beautiful goal there.

1:10:08So they need to find the midfield balance. And then even, I think, the central defensive pairing needs a little bit of tweaking as well. If they do that, perhaps they can recapture some of that earlier form. Right now, because of the football heritage argument, I think Cameroon are slight favorites. Okay. And one other game you want to pick out from the last 16? It has to be Algeria versus DR Congo. DR Congo have a few matches to play in March, but they're favorites, I think, to get to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. And they're very battle-tested. If you look at the last six months who they've played, they've played Senegal twice.

1:10:43Tight matches there. They've knocked Nigeria and Cameroon out of World Cup qualifying. They're a very consistent team. They've done a great job recruiting from the diaspora, whether it's Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Axel Twanzebe, two players in the Premier League, but also players from Belgium, Mathieu Epolo, Mario Struikens, who haven't really made their mark yet. But there's two midfielders as well. Noah Siddiqui from Sunderland. and Netanyahu Albuquerque playing for Lille. Very, very good players and young players. So I think they're building something here. And that mixed with the experience of some players like Sean Salamemba, who recently celebrated 100 caps, makes them a formidable team.

1:11:16This is going to be a 50-50 match. Algeria also look good. And they have the sort of Italian-style coaching of Vladimir Petkovic. It really could tell he's cut his teeth in Serie A. So in French, they say that Algeria knows how to suffer. They know how to get through the tight, the difficult moments in the match. So I think it's going to be a very close match that can go into extra time. Petkovic, who I believe used to be a travelling salesman for photocopiers. All right, well, it all kicks off the last 16 on Saturday with Senegal against Sudan and Mali against Tunisia. The host, Morocco, go on Sunday against Tanzania in Rabat.

1:11:53And if they get through that, we'll face either South Africa or Cameroon. And Mahir, I hope you enjoy whatever you're heading off to. And we'll catch up with you again soon. and a magnificent roundup in the meantime. Many, many thanks. Thanks for having me on.

1:12:11Mehe Amazahi. Lovely stuff there. Well, it's been a long one, but I think just time to circle back to Socoratic Methods. Question about which player coach you predict to have a redemption art next year. Did anyone have time amidst all of that to come up with a name? Daniel has. All right, Daniel. Well, there is talk of Raheem Sterling getting a move in the January transfer window. And boy, does he deserve one because it doesn't really feel like he's done anything wrong other than his face, maybe form not fitting at clubs at a time in his career that would probably had higher ambitions and he was able to produce.

1:12:53Fulham and West Ham, I think, have both been linked. I would really like to see him have a good six months and get a contract and keep playing because he's not that old. He's very football old in that he's been playing pretty much relentlessly other than the last 18 months since he was 17. But yeah, at one point he looked like he was going to be the first England player to play in four World Cups and now he can't even get a game. So I hope he has a good year. Starting at Fulham would be a really, really good concept. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, obviously the conversation about how he very much liked to stay in London because his family has settled in there and he appears to be doing some really good work with his soccer schools there.

1:13:33So, yeah, I wish him all the best. I still think his England campaign in Euro 2020 is one of the best individual campaigns I've seen from an England player in my lifetime, though I'm 34. I'm not going to point out other people's age, but yeah. Strong second after the season by the Bank of the Thames and who knows if that World Cup ticket might not be available. Anyway, we'll see if he does make a move and what else happens. Of course, Tony Football Show will be here with you along the way. Listener, we're back to a regular schedule. Sunday night, we'll be here to round up the Matchday 20 action.

1:14:10Daniel will be joining us for that. So do hope you'll be joining us too. In the meanwhile, it's many, many thanks to Daniel, to Carl, to Adrian, Meher and to Simon earlier on and producer Charlie and to you, listener, continue having yourself a great new year and we'll catch up with you soon. Ben Affleck, all of us here, it's goodbye.

1:14:32You've been listening to The Totally Football Show, part of the Athletic FC podcast network. For more great podcasts just like this one, including The Athletic FC and our dedicated club podcasts, search for The Athletic on Apple, Spotify and all the usual places. We're also at The Totally Football Show on Insta and at The Totally Show on YouTube. The Totally Football Show is an Athletic Media Company production.

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